List and explain the four major causes of World War I.

There were several causes of World War I. Some had been building up for decades and just needed a spark to start a huge conflict. One cause of World War I was imperialism. Countries like Germany and Italy, that became unified countries around 1870, wanted to gain colonies. However, by the time they united into a country, most of the land available for colonization was already gone. Thus, one way to get colonies was by...

There were several causes of World War I. Some had been building up for decades and just needed a spark to start a huge conflict. One cause of World War I was imperialism. Countries like Germany and Italy, that became unified countries around 1870, wanted to gain colonies. However, by the time they united into a country, most of the land available for colonization was already gone. Thus, one way to get colonies was by going to war.

Another cause was nationalism. People within various countries began to develop intense feelings of pride. They believed they could do whatever they wanted because their way of life was the best. They weren’t worried about what other countries might think or do because they felt they were better than any other country. If a war started, they believed they would win the war because of these strong feelings of pride.

Entangling alliances and militarism also led to World War I. Countries were building up their militaries throughout Europe. This was an ominous sign because usually there is a reason for a building up of the military. Since countries had formed alliances with other countries to protect themselves in the case of an attack, a situation developed where a conflict between a country in one alliance against a country in another alliance could easily escalate into a multi-nation war. This is what happened in World War I, when Austria-Hungary, a member of the Triple Alliance, declared war on Serbia, a country that was closely allied with Russia, which was a member of the Triple Entente.

The assassination of Franz Ferdinand was the spark that ignited World War I. There were people in Europe that were being ruled by people who weren’t of the same nationality as they were. For example, some Serbians were ruled by Austria-Hungary. These Serbians wanted Austria-Hungary to give the area where these Serbians lived to Serbia so that Serbians would rule Serbians. This concept of self-determination existed in many places in Europe. When Austria-Hungary refused to do this, a plot was developed and carried out to kill Franz Ferdinand, the next King of Austria-Hungary. This assassination set in motion a series of events that led to the start of World War I when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, and Russia, a close ally of Serbia, declared war on Austria-Hungary. Other joined the war because of the alliances they had with each other. World War I had begun.